I’ve been meaning to share the before and afters of our home renovation but I have been so terrible at organizing pictures that it would take an entire day to get them in order. For that I apologize! I do want to show you what our wood stove area and living room looks like, because right now I am so smitten with it! Remember my post about how much I disliked the wood stove? You can read that post here the hideous wood stove. Now, I am absolutely in love with it and appreciate it more than ever. This year, we are looking at saving some big money thanks to our wood stove. I’ve given it a good polish, we’ve updated the fire wall and landing and built some bookshelves to accent the wall. We aren’t done yet with this wall but it is looking so good, and I’m very happy with it! It has become a cozy space and my favorite area of the house. I love to sit here and look around and remember what this space used to look like because it has truly come a long way from that! So here are some not so perfect shots of this wall and wood stove before and the after!

This is before we polished the stove and finished the flue. We had just finished building and painting the shelves.

Here it is all polished and pretty with new surroundings! We still have minor finishing touches to make that involve paint and quarter round trim. I also have some decor pieces I want to hang but haven’t made up my mind yet on their placement.

We built the bookshelves in one day. My husband had injured his arm so he walked me through where to cut, measure, and drill and gave me a hand to hold things while I did the hammering, cutting and drilling. I sanded and painted them on my own. I was pretty proud that I did all the major work and I was more than happy to give Ken a break. But most of all, I was happy to have them done. This wall was bare for a good while and the shelves just needed to be done. Like I said for the millionth time, I really love the way this space has turned out! My husbands vision is finally shining through now and I gotta say, he has a great imagination!

I want to add that after all this work my husband did to the house we were disappointed that the flooring we picked has some major flaws. At times it warps and buckles in places. Even though it’s a beautiful look, unfortunately it’s going to be replaced. It really bugs my husband every time he sees a new spot buckling. We’ve tried adding glue but then the next plank over pops up. We won’t be putting anymore effort into this flooring and instead just getting it replaced. It’s a bummer but a learning experience!

One day I’ll find the before pictures and update this post or write a new one but for now, here is our new living room!

Let’s talk about the wood stove for a minute. It’s utility is by far the greatest thing in this home. When in use, this one box produces enough heat for our entire 1,216 square foot home. We save almost $2,000 of electric bill money in a six month span. For one, that is how ridiculously expensive electricity is in this area. And second, this is much more sustainable for us in the long run as we get away from the conventional way of paying a power company til the end of time. We still have our solar and wind system to set up. We are just needing to invest in the battery bank, something we just haven’t been able to do just yet.

This room has come a long way from what it was before. There are still minor things we need to do for it to be complete but my goodness, its looking great! Stick with us as we continue to transform our single wide into an inviting and sustainable living space.

Until next time, God Bless!

-Cristina